Teachers must learn SOP for serious discipline cases
I BELIEVE the whole nation is extremely sad over the death of M. Vasanthapiriya who never regained consciousness after slipping into a coma following a suicide attempt.
Certainly her family members and relatives are grieving immensely over her untimely death at age 13.I would like to join the teaching fraternity and express our deepest condolences and profound sympathy to the family - our prayers and thoughts are with them.
The circumstances leading to her death were most unfortunate, presumably an over-reaction on the part of the teacher handling the loss of her handphone.It was undeniably an oversight on the part of the teacher to contravene school policies in dealing with suspected cases of theft.
Probably the teacher was not aware of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on discipline. Generally, teachers are trained to teach without sufficient exposure on class control and how to handle severe discipline problems.
I’d like to suggest the SOP be taught in teachers colleges and universities, and should be printed in teachers’ record books and displayed in the office and staff room.
All teachers should know that serious discipline cases such as stealing, fighting and bullying must be referred to the discipline teacher, counsellor or student affairs teacher.
The parents must be informed or advised to come to the school to settle the matter amicably.
Failing which, the school authority should refer it to the District Education Office or State Education Department.
With respect to Vasanthapiriya’s case, all parties must be calm and composed as the police and school authority have submitted their investigations to the higher authorities for further action to be taken.
The lesson we can learn from this unforeseen and unfortunate incident is that teachers should be rational and not act rashly and hastily
your
and must follow the
opinions
Education Ministry’s SOP, circulars and guidelines.
When in doubt, always give the student the benefit of doubt.
THOMAS KOK Ipoh